The rich grow fatter

 

During the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic, the collective wealth of billionaires in the United States grew by a staggering $1.7 trillion as Covid-19 killed millions of people across the globe and threw entire nations into turmoil, worsening extreme poverty, hunger, and other preexisting crises.

Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) finds that the 704 billionaires in the U.S. now own more combined wealth than the 165 million people in the bottom half of the country's wealth distribution.

"For billionaires, it's been two years of raking in the riches, while for most families it's been two years of fear, frustration, and financial worry," ATF executive director Frank Clemente said.

"The rising asset values billionaires have enjoyed over the past two years are not taxable unless the assets are sold," ATF explains. "But billionaires don't need to sell assets to benefit from their increased value: they can live off money borrowed at cheap rates secured against their rising fortunes. And when all those wealth gains are passed along to the next generation, they entirely disappear for tax purposes."

According to ATF's new analysis, the biggest billionaire winners during the coronavirus pandemic's first two years were:

• Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who saw his net worth skyrocket by $209 billion;
• Google co-founder Larry Page, whose fortune grew by $63 billion; and
• Google co-founder Sergey Brin, whose wealth increased by $60 billion.

"Not one of the 15 richest U.S. billionaires gained less than $10 billion," ATF noted 

700 US Billionaires Got $1.7 Trillion Richer During Two Years of Pandemic (commondreams.org)